Autumn is now in full swing here in England, with the leaves starting to turn (they’ll look fabulous sometime in the next week) and the shops full of seasonal goodies. Especially mushrooms. I remember an ad campaign that was on TV when I was little that sung praises for mushrooms, with the tag-line of ‘they’re meat for vegetarians‘. I guess that’s true – there’s certainly enough varieties to keep you just as interested in them as there are different types of red meat 
So to take advantage of the abundance of mushrooms that’s around at the moment, I threw together a mushroom and bacon risotto last night that worked an absolute treat. As with all my recipes, this one is variable in terms of the ingredients (I always stay true to the fundamentals of a recipe, but will adjust according to what’s in the fridge / cupboard / seasonal). The one constant in this recipe is the amount of liquid to the amount of arborio rice used.
My ingredients last night were:
- 3 large cloves of garlic, very finely chopped
- 1 medium brown onion, finely chopped
- 3 rashers of smoked bacon, sliced finely
- 4 large Portabello mushrooms, sliced into bite-sized pieces
- 1 handful of chestnut (brown) mushrooms, sliced
- 1 handful of white button mushrooms, sliced
- 10gm dried Porchini mushrooms, re-hydrated in hot water
- freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 cup white wine
- 2 mushroom stock cubes
- c. 3 cups hot water
- 1 cup arborio rice
- finely grated Parmesan cheese
- butter & olive oil
I always find it amazing to see a list of ingredients written down – it always looks like far more on paper than it seems to be when I’m preparing everything in the kitchen!
So, to start combine the stock cubes, the hot water and the wine in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a simmer over a low heat. This will serve to gently boil off the alcohol in the wine, as well as give you a piping hot liquid to add to the risotto while you’re cooking it.
In a large, heavy based pan heat the olive oil and a knob of butter over a medium heat. Once the butter is melted and the pan hot, add the garlic and stir. Once the garlic in fragrant, add the onion and some freshly cracked pepper and stir once again. Allow the onion and garlic to sweat until the onion starts to soften, than add in the bacon and the rice and stir to combine.
As the rice grains start to cook and release their starches they will start to become clear – when you see this, start to ladle the hot stock and wine liquid over the rice. The trick here is to be patient, and to only add two (or at the most, three) ladles of liquid to the rice at any one time. This will allow the risotto to cook at an even pace, and will allow you to control the amount of liquid you have in your final dish (remember that you can always add more liquid, but you can’t take any out!).
Once the rice grains are starting to soften slightly (test one or two grains to check), add the mushrooms to the risotto, and continue to cook as before – adding liquid to the risotto a ladle at a time, and stirring to combine. Allow the risotto to simmer throughout – the heat allows the rice & the mushrooms to absorb the liquid, with the excess vapourising.
When the rice and the mushrooms are cooked and softened, your risotto’s done! Add a couple of handfuls of Parmesan cheese and stir through (this will help to ‘thicken’ the risotto), some more cracked pepper to season to your taste and another knob of butter to add a gorgeous glossy sheen to the finished dish.
Serves – 4 as a main meal, 6 as an entrée
Cooking time – approx. 20mins
Filed under: Dinner, Personal, cooking, musings, vegetables | Tagged: bacon, comfort food, Home cooking, London kitchens, mushrooms, my kitchen, recipe, risotto, seasonal food
